


In Another Life

by You_Light_The_Sky



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Canon, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Fluff, Rarepair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/You_Light_The_Sky
Summary: Ten moments that lead to a very different ‘Love Square’ between Nino and Marinette. Or maybe there was never any square to begin with, just two arrows pointed at each other.For theninozine on tumblr





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece that I wrote for theninozine which is a completely free pdf zine you can download [here](https://theninozine.tumblr.com/post/187010287908/its-finally-here) It was organized by thelastpilot, so thank you so much pilot for such an amazing experience!

**In Another Life**

_ “I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn't end up with you.” _

_ ― Taylor Jenkins Reid,  _ [ Maybe in Another Life ](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/43082842)

**1**

In another life, Nino keeps to himself and his music. He hangs out with the members of Kitty Section to talk music, but he doesn’t feel very  _ close  _ to anyone. In another life, Marinette is friendly with everyone in her class but never feels like she really  _ belongs _ until Alya comes into her life.

This isn’t that life. No. In this life, Nino turns right instead of left down the hallways. In this life and the others, Marinette’s books are pushed out of her hands by Chloe. And in all those lives, she sits crouched down, hands hovering just above her ruined sketches and furrowed book corners. She closes her eyes and tells herself to breathe.

In this life, Nino sees her like this. So small and alone, yet somehow more than that.

He doesn’t hesitate to crouch down and pick up her things. Several words bubble up inside him. Things like  _ don’t let Chloe get you down  _ or  _ does she always corner you like this?  _ But those words pop and disappear as soon as she looks at him, startled.

“Um,” Nino says. Lost.

“...Thank you,” she ducks her head down, as if ready to sink into the floor.

She quickly takes her things, ready to disappear, vanish, but something in Nino bursts out, “Do you like music?”

Urgh. Stupid Nino. Stupid question.

Marinette stops.

“It’s just, I’m a DJ. Well, aspiring DJ, and I wanted some opinions on this new track I made so, if you’re free, maybe you could like, give a listen… And let me know what you think?”

Just as Nino internally tries to drown himself, her smile slowly rises like the sun.

“I’d love that.”

_ Oh,  _ Nino thinks, looking at that smile.  _ Oh _ , his heart skips a beat.

  
  


**2**

Marinette’s  _ oh _ comes when she huddles next to this kind boy and lets his headphones hug her ears, lets this wave of soothing yet spunky music whisper in her soul, and when she looks at his anxious expression, she can only splutter, “T-this is just… amazing? I-it’s like you’ve r-recreated the sound of the universe and I’m only just dipping in!”

She watches as he flushes and waves his hands and insists that there are better DJs and she just has to come by and borrow his records and ‘wow, that’s too much, I’m not  _ that  _ great,’ with this smile that seems afraid to smile and Marinette only says, “Yes, yes you are that great.”

_ And more,  _ she thinks.

  
  


**3**

Nino waves her over as she stumbles into class (late, again). For a minute, she stares like a deer caught in traffic. 

Then he winks and whispers, "Saved you a seat!"

Marinette feels warm all over, so warm she fears her skin will melt in blushes "You don't have to do that. I can sit wherever."

Nino's hands flutter up to tug her sleeve. "Yeah, but, we're friends now, so yes. I have to."

"Then I'll pay you back!"

Nino laughs, and Marinette thinks she's found a sound even more delightful than his music.

"That's not how it works!"

But he doesn't complain when she brings him sweet pastries every morning.

  
  


**4**

"You call this music? It's just noise. Complete garbage. You'll never be a  _ real  _ DJ," his grandfather’s words echo in his head all day at school and Nino loses himself to those poisonous words. Sure, he’s not as close to Gramps as his parents would like him to be, but it still  _ hurt _ . 

Listening to tunes, being able to hear the soul in them and then rework them into something that’s  _ his soul  _ intertwined with the beats of those that inspired him… that means the world to him. If he can’t even reach his distant family with that message, with  _ his  _ music, then maybe he’s not a real DJ after all.

Marinette taps him on the shoulder. “Your grandpa still doesn’t approve?”

Nino just shrugs.

Her face falls. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it’s like for a relative to disapprove of your passion. If my parents didn’t support my designing, I don’t know what I’d do… But… for what it’s worth, I think you’re a real DJ. Here.”

Carefully, she coaxes an embroidered baseball cap into his hands. Sewed carefully in green cursive is  _ #1 DJ _ .

"...Made it for you."

Nino wears it every day since.

  
  


**5**

Ladybug crashes through Nino’s window but before he can freak out, her transformation drops and all he sees is Marinette.

“Holy-—!”

“Sh!!!” She presses herself against him, hands over his mouth. “Don’t tell anyone who I am, please! I was just, really freaking out, and the akuma was so strong, and Tikki was losing energy, and I didn’t know where else to go, and please tell me I can trust you and that you have some cookies or something sweet lying around somewhere because the akuma is still out there--”

Nino doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t need any time to reconcile that  _ the  _ Ladybug is the same amazing girl he’s best friends with. Of course she is.

“Just tell me what I need to do.”

**6**

The nights and days as Ladybug wears on Marinette. In another life, her grades might suffer, she might feel isolated from her best friend Alya, might feel the pressures of the world fall around her.

But in this life, she falls asleep on Nino’s shoulder during class and he protectively wraps his arm around her. He’ll give her the notes for class later.

**7**

“No, no, no, no, Marinette, Nette! Please answer me!” Nino digs and digs in the wreckage of the collapsed school. He didn’t see her transform. Only a split-second before the akuma destroyed the school and she pushed him out of the way.

He’s supposed to be her support, the one she goes to for strategy sessions, for notes, for back-up cookies. He’s supposed to be her… her…!

“...Do you want to protect her?” 

He sees a turtle-looking thing similar to Tikki, peering at him from an old man’s shoulder. 

The next time Marinette wakes up, she’s in the arms of a green-hooded figure with a familiar smile and strong chest. She blushes, even more flustered than when Nino first smiled at her, when he whispers, “Just bear with the pain for now, Nette, and  _ transform _ .”

It’s him. She knows him. Her hero.

**8**

The mysterious Master Fu calls Nino (Carapace) her partner. Her  _ chosen  _ partner. Someone Marinette’s heart chose first. Wayzz and Master Fu chose him as soon as they knew her heart did.

Now Ladybug isn’t the sole superhero of Paris anymore. Now she has Carapace. A partner.

She puts her hand over Carapace’s and whispers, “I’m glad it’s you.”

**9**

It’s an accident, really. The two of them racing across rooftops in the rain, when suddenly Ladybug loses her footing. She falls and Carapace reaches out to catch her only—

They both fall together, in a heap against a poor rose bush. Maybe it’s the moonlight, maybe it’s their heartbeats louder than any DJ track Nino’s made, but…

They lean in. Lips touch. And they don’t let go.

**10**

He writes her songs made for angels and she weaves him clothes meant for kings. 

In another life, they are happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Always happy to get prompts at my [twitter](https://twitter.com/youlightthesky1), my [writing tumblr](http://youlighttheskyfanfiction.tumblr.com/), or my [art tumblr](https://youlighttheskyart.tumblr.com/)


End file.
